First Factory Visit - Production Standards And Ethics

I needed to assess the quality and consistency of production before committing what are frankly, large sums of money to an unknown third party. And I also wanted to make sure that the working conditions were good and that my brand likely to be in an acceptable place ethically. I spent a couple of hours on my first factory visit going through the entire production line and seeing exactly how the standards were set, operated and maintained.

Having worked in many factories as a student, a few things from a health and safety perspective stood out; how noisy and smelly was it, were the ‘dangerous’ processes adequately managed (do workers have missing or mis-shappen fingers? Seriously!), and do the workforce seem happy – and are they able to move about freely? The fact that the owner himself was happy for me to walk around taking photographs unannounced, I also took to be a good sign.